I CANNOT FORGIVE THEM' - MOTHER OF COFFIN ASSAULT VICTIM
Middelburg – "I cannot forgive them because they failed to have mercy on my child when they forced him into the coffin," said Lonia Mlotshwa, shortly after her son's attackers were sentenced to jail. "I am very happy. As a mother, I am satisfied [and] sentencing should not be something that kills you. I would not have my child today [had they succeeded in their plans]," she said. Theo Jackson and Willem Oosthuizen - the men who forced Victor Mlotshwa into a coffin - will spend 11 years and 14 years respectively behind bars. When Judge Segopotje Mphahlele handed down the sentences in the High Court, sitting in the Middelburg Magistrate's Court on Friday, she said the conduct of the two men was "humiliating and disgusting". They had forced Mlotshwa into a coffin and threatened to pour petrol on him. The incident was filmed and when the video went viral on social media, it sparked an outcry and people demanded justice. Mphahlele said their conduct goe